Mail-box



. M. GATES (No Model.)

0. Pl JOHNSTON 8v 0 MAIL BOX.

Patented Jan. 9, 1894.

INVENTOHS.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFIcE.

OLIVER P. JOHNSTON AND CALVIN M. GATES, OF BUTTE, MONTANA.

MAIL-BOX.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 512,5 49, dated January 9, 1894 Application filed July'19,1893. Serial No. 480,904. (No model.)

T0 on whom it may concern.-

Be it known that we, OLIVER P. JOHNSTON and CALVIN M. GATES, both of Butte city, in the county of Silver Bow and State of Montana, have invented a new and Improved Mail- Box, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

Our invention relates to improvements in mail boxes, and the object of our invention is to produce a very cheap and simple box which is adapted to receive letters and large packages, which is constructed in such a way that the letters or packages may be easilyinserted therein,which has also a hood adapted to exclude rain, dust or other foreign matter, and which also has its parts arranged in such a way that the matter within the box cannot be feloniously removed.

To this end, our invention consists in certain features of construction and combinations of parts, which will be hereinafter described and claimed.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification, in which similar figures of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the views.

Figure 1 is afront elevation of the box with the hood raised to provide for the insertion of a letter or package. Fig. 2 is a central vertical cross section of the box; and Fig. 3 is a broken detail sectional plan on the line 3-3 in Fig. 2. y

The box 10 has its lower portion construct ed like an ordinaryletter box, and is provided with the usual door 11, which has a suitable lock 12, and which is opened when the mail matter in the box is to be removed. The top of the box is made to assume a nearly cylin-- drical shape, as shown at 13, this cylindrical portion being open on the top, as at 14, the opening extending from the point marked 15 v in Fig. 2, to the upturned flange 16 on the back of said cylindrical portion. The cylindrical top has closed ends 17, and has end flanges 18 which form a bearing for the sliding hood hereinafter described. Extending diagonally across the cylindrical portion, at a point beneath the front edge of the opening 14, is a partition 19, and behind this and parallel therewith, is another partition 20, the two forming between them a chute or passageway in which the letters or packages are dropped. Extending diagonally upward from the back of the partition 20, is a guard plate 21, which prevents any instrument from being inserted behind the chute so as to remove any mail from the box.

The cylindrical top portion of the box is covered by a sliding hood 22, which is adapted to lie over the front top portion of the box, and the hood has at its free edge a hand hold 23, which enables it to be easily moved. The hood is provided with closed ends 24, which lie parallel with the ends 17 of the cylindrical part 13 of the box, and these ends 24 are centrally pivoted on a rod or shaft 25, which extends through the cylindrical part 13 of the box. The top portion of the hood has inturned flanges 26, which slide on the back of the cylinder 13, and the hood is also provided with a transverse flange 27, which is turned inward and downward, and which is adapted to abut with the flange 16 of the box, as shown clearly in Fig. 2, and these flanges meet at the same time the front portion of the hood strikes the top of the box, and consequently the whole upper portion of the box and cylinder is tightly closed, so that no dirt, snow, rain or anything else can get into the box.

The guard and receiver, consisting of a curved plate 28, is heldto turn in the rear and lower portions of the cylinder 13, this plate extending the entire length of the cylinder, and at its lower or free end projects downward through and behind the cylinder and into the box 10. The upper portion of the plate 28 is bent at a right angle, as shown at 29, and secured as shown at 30 to the hood 22, so that the hood and receiver move 1n unison.

When any mail matter is to be deposited in the box, the hood 22 is raised at its front edge, and this causes it to slide backward and expose the chute formed between the partitions 19 and 20, as indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 2. The above movement of the hood carries the receiver plate forward beneath the chute bottom, so that all communication with the box proper is thus cut 0E, and there is absolutely no possibility of filching the mail matter from the box. The matter to be deposited is then placed in the chute and rests upon the receiver plate 28, and the ICO . V I l hood then falls downward and forward by its own weight, thus carrying back the receiver plate and permitting the mail matter to drop into the box.

From the foregoing description it will be observed that the construction of the box is very cheap and simple, that provision is made for the easy insertion of matter in the box, and that it is impossible to steal anything from the box except by breaking it, or by breakingthe lock 12.

Having thus described our invention, we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent- 1. As an improved article of manufacture, a mail box having a nearly cylindrical upper portion with an open top, a chute arranged in the upper portion and adapted to deliver into the box body, a sliding hood held to turn on the cylindrical portion and adapted to cover the chute, and a receiver plate carried by the hood and adapted to turn beneath the chute when the hood is raised, substantially as described.

2. A mail box having a nearly cylindrical upper portion with a top opening therein, a chute extending through the cylindrical part of the box and delivering into the box body, the chute being formed between opposite partitions, a sliding hood held to turn on the box top and adapted to close the opening therein, and a receiver plate carried by the hood and adapted,when the hood is raised, to turn beneath the chute and close the inlet to the body portion of the box, substantially as described.

3. A mail box, having a nearly cylindrical top portion with a top opening therein, a chute extending through the cylindrical part of the box and delivering into the body portion thereof, a guard plate extending rearwardly from the chute, a curved hood held to turn on the cylindrical portion of the box, and a curved receiver plate carried by the hood and adapted to turn beneath the opening of the chute by the raising of the hood, substantially as described.

4. The combination, with the box having a nearly cylindrical upper portion with a top opening therein, of an inlet chute extending diagonally across the upper portion and delivering into the box body, a transverse flange formed on the cylindrical portion of the box at the back of its top opening, and a sliding hood held to turn on the top portion of the box, the hood having inturned flanges to slide on the cylindrical part of the box and a transverse flange to abut with the flange at the back of the box opening, substantially as described.

OLIVER P. JOHNSTON. CALVIN M. GATES.

Wi tn esses:

ALBERT SHEPHERD, WILLIAM TURNER. 

